The Mulligan
by Isadogger
Summary: post-series finale Bonnie can't wake up Elena. Damon and Elena are sent back in time to replace their past selves prior to Stefan's death and Elena's magic coma, hoping to prevent all the tragedies that happened after Kai crashed Ric's wedding. Everything changes when they go back way further than planned.
1. reset

The Mulligan

Description: post-series finale Bonnie can't wake up Elena. Damon and Elena are sent back in time to replace their past selves prior to Stefan's death and Elena's magic coma, hoping to prevent all the tragedies that happened after Kai crashed Ric's wedding. Everything changes when they go back way further than planned.

Author's warning: This is a Delena story for those of us who don't hate him. If you really hate Damon so much that you like to leave rants about how much he sucks on any story that isn't anti-Damon, then this story isn't for you.

* * *

1\. _Bonnie pushed the reset button_

* * *

Bonnie's voice faded further and further until all they could hear was a loud ringing in their ears, and all they could see was an explosion of light bursting around them.

The light was so bright at first as Damon squeezed Elena's hand, afraid he'd lose her in the journey through time. Suddenly his own hand was empty, and the brightness dimmed.

He stood in the forest alone. Elena was gone.

"What? No!" Damon yelled, spinning around, looking for her in a panic. Instead, he heard men's shouts and saw torchlights through the trees.

At the same time, a body collided directly with his, and both of them fell to the ground. Staring at him in confusion was Stefan, and he was wearing the old outfit with suspenders from 1864; the last day he was alive as a human. Damon froze, a lump forming in his throat as he looked at the young man, barely yet a man, who was scrambling back to his feet.

Nearby in the woods while loading up a prisoner, a man gave orders to others, "We have to get to the church. They're waiting!"

"Damon, get up." Stefan held out his hand, pulling his big brother up from the ground, and pointing towards a route to flank the men with the carriage full of vampire captives. "Circle around that way. I'll distract them. Go."

Damon stared at his young brother in the flesh, not releasing his hand, wanting to pull him into a big hug. Instead, he pulled the 17 year old human into a chokehold from behind before Stefan could announce their presence and knocked him out cold.

"Sorry, little brother. I'm pretty sure Bonnie made a _huge_ mistake sending me back this far, but this time around you're not gonna die trying to save that bitch for me." He hefted Stefan onto his shoulders, immediately realizing that he also was most certainly a human. Stefan was quite heavy.

Sure enough, only moments later, he came face to face with the man he never expected nor wanted to see again.

"Damon! What has happened?" Giuseppe Salvatore blocked his path, narrowing his eyes when he saw Damon carrying his unconscious brother. For a moment Damon couldn't speak, only able to focus his eyes on the weapon his father carried; the weapon that had been meant to kill both sons. The weapon that the old man now raised and pointed at him before speaking again, "Put Stefan down, now! What sort of demon would make you attack your own brother?"

Slowly, Damon lowered Stefan to the ground before raising his hands.

"Careful Father, I was only stopping him from making a terrible mistake. Katherine had him compelled to rescue her, and I had to knock him out to keep him from getting killed. You were right, she truly is a demon, but soon she will burn with the rest of them in the church. We must take him home until she is dead and the compulsion is lifted, or he will keep trying to get to her!" Damon was surprised when Giuseppe lowered the rifle, nodding at Damon.

"I thought I was going to lose both my sons this night," he said, seemingly relieved as he took Stefan from Damon, and the two of them began carrying him back to the estate.

The shock of ending up in 1864 turned to anger as he listened to Giuseppe spout out all his contempt towards the vampires and how embarassed he was that his own son's had been so closely associated with one. The whole way, Damon seethed as he bitterly remembered how his father would have shot them in cold blood only moments ago. Meanwhile, Katherine would be escaping soon with the help of George Lockwood, and the rest of the vampires would be trapped in the tomb.

So where in the world was Elena? She was supposed to have been transported back in time to her existing body prior to the coma, but this was 1864. That was when a terrible thought crossed his mind. What if Elena had somehow ended up trapped in her doppelganger's body instead, since she hadn't been born yet in this time? Clearly, magic was fickle since it sent them back to before Stefan died, _ever_.

What if Elena was now trapped in the church instead of Katherine, and didn't know how to get out? She could die for real in this world, and he'd be stuck here as a human with nothing to live for.

Instantly, he released his hold on Stefan, causing Giuseppe to stumble with the extra weight. Before Giuseppe could recover, Damon grabbed for the rifle and smashed it across his father's skull. The older man's eye's rolled back as he fell to the ground. Blood trickled from the gash in his scalp but his chest still moved up and down; he'd be out for a long time but he'd live.

"Sorry, Dad. Well, you know what? Actually, I'm not sorry. You're a dick." Damon left Giuseppe and Stefan laying safely on the ground, taking the rifle with him as he went for the church. Either he was going to surprise Katherine, or he was going to rescue Elena in Katherine's body.

Looking back at Stefan who was starting to stir and would likely take his father home, Damon made a promise, "I'll return for you, little brother. This time things will be different."

* * *

Elena crawled through the burning church, trying to find the exit that Katherine had escaped from. She knew that this was real because the few times she got too close to the flames was extremely painful, especially since the vervain in her system slowed the healing.

Waking up from her long dream state as she traveled back in time right into Katherine's muzzled and vervained body had been horrifying. The realization that she was reliving the nightmare from 1864 was the most terrifying thing she'd ever imagined, especially when she was dragged into the church which was now on fire, and knew that she had to get out before she got sealed in the tomb with the others.

She tried remembering what she knew about Katherine's escape, but she wasn't sure where George Lockwood was planning to let her out. The one thing she did know was that she could not take refuge in the tomb with the others, or she'd probably be stuck there until 2009.

Then she heard a struggle and a loud cracking thump outside, thanks to her newly reacquired supernatural hearing, before a whispered voice from under the quire loft called out, "Pssst! Katherine! This way, hurry up!"

She quickly crawled towards the unfamiliar voice until she reached freedom in the form of fresh air and the very strong arms of a strange man. On the ground behind him lay a young man with dark curls, his neck twisted around unnaturally. She gasped in horror at what she saw.

"George? Is that Damon?" Elena's emotions rose out of her control. _Her_ Damon lay on the ground in front of her with a broken neck. Hysteria rose deep within her, threatening to set her into a rage she hadn't felt since losing Jeremy.

"Sorry, Katherine, but he came from behind and attacked me. If I had not killed him he would have interfered with your escape. Quickly, we must get to the carriage before they see us. You still owe me my payment. Come!" George pulled her away from Damon, and for a moment she was almost too weak to stop the man with his werewolf strength, but Katherine's body was already recovering from the vervain.

"No!" She yanked her arm away from him, regaining control of her emotions as she remembered that Damon had originally died this same night and reawoken as a vampire.

Her blood was already in his system. His manner of death had changed. He must have been coming to rescue her here at the church because his future self had arrived in this time with her. She just had to take him with her now and ensure he turned like he was supposed to. "Take him with us, George, or you'll never get the moonstone!"

He glared at her angrily before picking up the dead body. "You've turned him havent you, Katherine?" He sneered with contempt, "I should have never agreed to this deal. After you give me the moonstone you must take him with you and _never_ return to Mystic Falls."

"Don't worry. Get us out of here safely and you will get what I owe you, and then we will leave. Just make sure that noone ever knows we escaped." Elena decided that she didn't want to risk a fight with a werewolf, and since George and Katherine both survived their deal the first time, she didn't think he'd double cross her now. She also wasn't sure if Tyler was a direct decendant of him or not, and didn't want to prevent him from ever being born.

She picked up the rifle that had been next to Damon's body and followed after George away from the burning church and into the darkness.


	2. transition

2\. _Transition in exile_

* * *

"Damon, are you waking up? Oh, thank God, you're back. I was so scared that you may not of had her blood in you after all!" Her voice called out to him through the haze of his undead return.

Damon's neck hurt like hell, it was too bright out and he felt disoriented and confused, but a massive smile formed on his face as he looked up into the big brown eyes of the only woman he'd ever really loved. "Elena."

"Yes, it's me!" Elena cried, tears streaming from her eyes. She was overjoyed that he was alive, and he was _her_ Damon who knew who she was. The two of them held each other close for a long time, and Elena explained that after she parted ways with George Lockwood, who Damon _really_ wanted to kill, she brought him to the quarry but was unsure if Emily was going to arrive since the witch had not come across his body in the woods this time. Damon believed Emily wouldn't show, but considering how much had been changed that night, he didn't think it would be safe to seek her out yet either.

"How will we get your ring? We need to find a safe place for you to finish turning and stay out of the sun when you do, but I don't know anything about this time!" Elena was in a bit of a panic, knowing that Damon needed human blood very soon.

Damon caressed her cheek with his thumb, still in awe at how much Elena in Katherine's body was identical to the Elena he knew. It was as if Katherine had simply ceased to exist. Perhaps she had? All he knew was that the girl in front of him was definitely Elena Gilbert.

"Don't worry, just follow my lead. We'll go a few towns over and tonight I'll feed. When things settle down here, we can come back for my ring and get Stefan. He's still human by the way. I stopped Giuseppe from shooting him," he said with a proud grin.

"Stefan's still human? Oh, my God!" Elena took some deep breathes, melting into Damon's loving touches.

"Ha! Yeah, I honestly don't think I wanna deal with trying to train ripper Stefan yet. Maybe we should just let him grow up human for a while, but there's no way I'm leaving him with Giuseppe. That man will poison him." Damon shuddered at the thought of Stefan becoming like his father. No doubt Giuseppe was already turning him against his turncoat older brother at this very moment. This version of Stefan was so naive and easily influenced.

Damon smirked at Elena, "Plus, this way I don't have to compete for you anymore. You're all _mine_. If we weren't stuck in 1864, this would be perfect. We can take Stefan far away and compel him to go to school like the little scholar he was always meant to be, and I'll get to have you all to myself." He nipped at her neck playfully.

Elena sat up abruptly. "Do you think we're going to have to live through the next 150 years before we are back to our time again? Wait...If I'm Katherine now, then where is she, and what happened to the 'you' from this time?" Elena's nose scrunched up with her ever present worrying. He found it to be adorable.

"Look, Elena. I know this wasn't exactly the plan. Okay, so it's not even close to the plan. We were supposed to get sent back to when Stefan was alive and before you got put in a coma, and the spell went a _little_ overboard, sure. The thing is, before sending us, Bonnie told us we'd be replacing our past selves so I guess the old 'me' doesn't exist anymore. I'm guessing that the spell booted Katherine from existance too when it plopped you inside your doppelganger's body. All I do know is that I'm really, _really_ hungry, and a normal beef steak isn't gonna do the job, not even an entire cow. So, I need you to get your strength up to speed, literally, and help me get my first feed tonight. We'll just take this new 'life' one day at a time. Oh, and by the way, " Damon crushed his lips onto hers, opening her mouth with his tongue and kissing her passionately as she gasped, letting him in.

They clung to each other, the relief of being together again after so long taking precedence over any of the problems at hand. Their clothes were shed, and their bodies melded together in desperation as they made love. Neither of them having the patience to slow down, he complied with her begging for release with all the enthusiasm he had to give. After his final thrust, Damon exploded deep within Elena and he draped over her, exhausted and sweaty, as she ran her fingers through his dark wavy hair.

"Mmm, I've waited soo long to do that again," he mumbled into her bosum as she returned to reality, and noticed how weak he looked.

"Oh Damon, that was a bad idea. You look terrible. Come on, we've got to get you human blood." Elena tried to sit up but he wrapped his arms tighter around her and refused to budge from his position upon her.

"Sleepy. Lemme take a nap first." Damon's blue eyes fluttered shut, and Elena realized how pale and clammy his skin looked.

"No, Damon. I think we just shortened how much time you have left to transition. If you fall asleep now I might not be able to wake you back up." Elena jumped up using vampire speed and strength, forcing him to stand on his feet. "Get dressed, I need you to help me get you somewhere safe. I need blood too. Once you're a vampire we can spend all the time in the world that you want in bed. Hopefully, in an _actual_ bed next time."

"Ugh, fine. I'm up. Just don't forget that you said that when I want to spend all the time in the world in bed with you, for at least a century. 'Cause honestly, I wouldn't mind ignoring the rest of the world for the next hundred or so years anyway. They suck." Damon trudged over to his clothes, slowly pulling them back on at the speed of sloth.

"At least my shirt doesn't have a massive bloody hole in it this time around. Still, I'm already regretting not killing Giuseppe when I had the chance since he was on his way to murder me 'n Stef. Now he's gonna be a pain," Damon mumbled as he button his shirt.

"That's not who you are anymore, Damon. After everything we've been through, going back in time to make things better does not include killing your father," Elena argued.

"Maybe, maybe not," Damon responded. "Technically, he was supposed to get eaten tonight by my brother, and letting him escape his fate could easily change things for the worse."

"Well you can't go home right now to confront him. You're in transition and too weak and you know that Stefan will defend him, and who knows what could happen to all of you then. We need to finish your transition somewhere safe, and then figure out how we can get back in touch with Emily Bennett before the founders kill her too." Elena had a good point, and Damon didn't have enough strength to take unnecessary risks.

"Fine. We'll see how it plays out, but you have no idea how horrible that guy can be. I may not have killed him the first time, but I was glad when he was gone," Damon muttered as Elena reached out and took his hand. "Let's go northeast, towards Charlottesville. Without my ring, I can't feed until it gets dark, and I'll need places to hide afterwards."

* * *

Several hours later, after traveling as far from Mystic Falls as they could on foot with Damon becoming weaker every moment that the day went on, the evening sun began to set.

"Damon, I need to go find us blood," Elena insisted as she set him against a tree where he groaned and finally collapsed. "Stay here 'til I get back, I hear some voices off in the distance. It sounds like a few men."

As she turned to go, Damon grabbed hold of her shredded dress sleeve. "Be careful Elena, this is the tail end of the civil war. The men in this time are all armed and quick to fire at perceived threats, not to mention superstitious and hostile towards witches and 'demons'. You're kinda a mess, and they may respond with paranoia or aggression. Be sneaky and quick."

She nodded, and headed off towards the sound. The corset under her tattered and singed dress felt constricting and strange. She recalled in her thoughts how Bonnie had mind jumped into her coma through Damon after Stefan had died in the future. The awful spell in their time keeping her life tied to Bonnie had been full proof, and there was no way to awaken her. Damon's devastation of his brother's loss had prompted him to conspire with Bonnie a plan to send him back in time to before Stefan died. Bonnie had believed that if she also sent Elena back to her former self before the coma, it would negate the present day life binding spell that prevented her from being awake while Bonnie lived.

Also, Bonnie wanted to insure that Damon went far enough back before Enzo had been murdered if Stefan was going to get to be saved. So after their meeting inside her dream, and with Damon holding her hand as she lay beside him, Bonnie had performed the spell to send them back in time. Of course, none of them had planned for a full mulligan such as this current situation. They'd expected to be teleported back to Ric's wedding, and the plan was to prepare the Gemini to set a trap to stop Kai before he could kill anyone or cast the spell on Elena.

Lost in her thoughts about how screwed up this whole thing had become, she almost wandered out into the open as the woods gave way to a wagon trail. A few bloody and bandaged confederate soldiers trudged along. They were a small group of three wounded men, likely survivors from a nearby battle.

As they neared her, unaware of the danger they were walking into due to the darkening twilight, she sprang into action. They didn't stand a chance against the power of Katherine's nearly 400 year old vampire body, and Elena easily incapacitated all three before they could lift their rifles. She fed upon them to regain her strength, hiding them off road, and giving the weaker two of them just enough vampire blood that they would heal and live another day.

The third man she brought to Damon, who had slid down the tree he'd leaned against when she'd left him, laying in a heap. "Damon, wake up!"

Elena inhaled with relief as his eyes cracked open as she held the wounded soldier's wrist out for her man. He drank until she stopped him in time to keep the victim alive, feeding the soldier a bit of her blood as well. Once Damon's fangs grew in, she brought him to the other soldiers, allowing him to feed some more.

Damon had some trouble stopping his newly turned vampire bloodlust, so it was a good thing that she had Katherine's strength. After they were through, the three men lay sleeping as they healed, compelled and unaware of their near deaths.

The stars were their only light, but with their vampire vision they had no need for illumination. What they did need was shelter before morning. They continued traveling northeast towards Charlottesville through the night until coming upon a cabin with only one occupant. Luring the old woman out before convincing her to invite them in was easy, and they covered the windows with heavy shades. So far, they hadn't had to kill anyone and Elena was very relieved.

Old lady Potter was actually a kind and lonely host, and in return they minimized their usage of her as a blood thrall. She was compelled not to fear them and to forget they were ever there unless they returned, and they enjoyed her company for the day. In fact, when night arrived, she sent them off in new garb. Elena left wearing one of the old lady's bell shaped skirts and an uncomfortably tight bodice, and Damon had an old jacket, shirt and trousers that once belonged to the widow's husband. They were invited to return for a visit any time they wished, should they return to Red Hill.

Damon decided that they'd gone far enough from the scene of the crime since he wanted to reach out to Emily Bennett and get his ring as soon as possible. However, since Giuseppe had probably not died and would likely shoot Damon on sight, they needed to be very cautious. He had no doubt that his father would have disowned him as a traitor by now and it was impossible to know what he would tell the council in order to save face and hide his 'shame' over Damon's disappearance. Then there was the situation with Stefan, who would likely be very confused and his loyalties would be unknown until they could get him away from his father.

Everything was an unknown, complicated mess... but Stefan was alive, and Elena was awake. Right now, those two simple thoughts brought him such joy that he focused all of his newborn vampire emotions on them. Elena saw his smile, and did her best to put on her own brave face. The weight of this new reality was finally starting to hit her. She was stuck in Katherine's body in 1864. Damon was all she had.


	3. forsaken

Author's note: Thanks for reading and thanks especially for the reviews. Don't worry, Stefan won't being growing old in this story any time soon. Damon will most definitely be putting safeguards in place to ensure Stefan's continued existance asap, but they aren't going to rush turning him back into a newbie ripper vampire. Then again, staying alive as a human has never been easy for these guys!

* * *

3\. _The forsaken_

* * *

"Seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to walk around wearing what is basically a voluminous parachute. If I didn't have vampire stamina I wouldn't be able to make it a hundred feet through the woods in this," Elena mumbled, trying to untangle herself from prickly shrubs.

"Welcome to the eighteen hundreds, Elena. Women weren't expected to go bushwacking. You're supposed to stay indoors and look pretty," Damon teased and smirked at her obvious frustration before heading back to assist. "In fact, you've got at least another fifty years to get used to long poofy dresses."

Finally, Elena stumbled free, sighing and rolling her eyes before rolling up the bulky skirt and unsuccessfully attempting to tie it into a knot. Damon took pity on her and scooped her up, ignoring her protests. "Yes, Elena, I know you're a bigger, badder vampire than I am now, but if we keep stopping everytime you get snagged, I'm gonna end up frying when the sun comes up before we get there."

"Ugh, where exactly is there, anyway? Everything looks so different back in your day." she grumbled, but ceased her protests about being carried.

"I've got a supply cache somewhere around here. Granted I'm going on a memory from my first time as confederate desserter, but look for a large slanted rock with a tree growing crooked at its base."

After scanning the dark wooded area a bit, Damon put Elena down and sped around, before returning with a dirty black tarred knapsack, dropping it in front of her and going through its contents. Surprisingly all the items remained dry inside, some of which he unrolled from cloth wrapping.

"Let's see, we've got a .36 cal Colt Navy Revolver and spare balls and cartridges, a Bowie knife, old timey maps of Virginia, an _actual_ compass, wooden canteen, tin mess kit, and a box of Lucifers," He announced, holding up a matchbox. Then he reached back in and unrolled a wad of cash. "Aha, and a handful of greenbacks and greybacks."

"What's the difference?" Elena asked, looking at the unfamiliar bills.

"Greenbacks for the north, and greybacks for the south. At least for a little bit longer. Right now, it's handy to have both. That's why I stashed my 'go bag' out here, in case I ran into any trouble for my unauthorized extended leave from the confederates. I've probably got forgotten stashes out here all over the place of old junk; started off hiding spare toys from my mom as a kid," Damon's thoughts drifted away for a moment. "It's so strange being back here."

"Damon, you do realize that your mom is still alive now right?" Elena shivered at the thought of facing Lily ever again. Damon had filled her in on some of what happened with Julian and the heretics during her coma, but she knew he had yet to share other more painful events surrounding Lily's death. It was clear he had unfinished business to deal with, but from Elena's point of view that woman was dreadful.

"I know. And that may come up again at some point, but not right now. Right now, we need to try to rescue Emily before she gets burned, so I can get my ring. Then we need to grab Stefan and get outta town. I'm pretty sure that's more than enough to worry about." Damon packed everything back into his waterproofed knapsack. "Besides, Lily and her merry band of misfits are overseas in England or Europe somewhere right now, so that's the last thing we need to think about."

"Good." Elena followed Damon as he messed with the compass, before stuffing it back in his pocket and taking her hand.

"Alright, time to go see about a witch. Wanna run?" Damon asked, and she nodded. It was far easier to use vamp speed than try walking through the woods, getting snagged and tangled every few feet.

* * *

When they neared the ramshackle cottage the Bennett family lived in, the sound of children crying was all they could hear from outside. Damon frowned and told Elena to stay back, in case 'Katherine' would not be a welcome sight. The doorway had been bashed in, and inside the cottage a large black man kneeled next to two small children as they sobbed. Damon knocked on the door frame, and the three Bennetts looked up. The children appeared terrified and the man was outraged.

"What have you come back for? Haven' you done enough?" He yelled angrily, standing protectively in front of the kids.

"Whoa, hey, wait a minute, I'm just here to see Emily! You're her brother right? Brian Bennett?" Damon took a step back. He'd never seen this man use magic but didn't want to take chances.

The man slumped, his fury changing to sadness. "Yessah, and the little ones are Emily's babes, but she's gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Elena had approached Damon's side, having heard enough.

"Them founders men, they came 'round supper time, busted in an' took her. I couldn't stop 'em and they grabbed her so fast she couldn't do nothin' either." Brian hugged the children close. "Their pa already gone too, barely a year ago...What am I gonna do now? Bernadine's not even four years old, and Benjamin just turned two!"

"What? No! That wasn't supposed to happen, there should've been time to warn her that she's in danger," Damon argued out loud, pointlessly.

Brian just shook his head, devastated. "They burnt her alive, and it was _your_ own pa who led them. Mister Giuseppe 'n those Lockwood men. They know she was a witch. They took her grimoire as proof. I'm no witch, mostly only the women in our family are, so who's gonna take care of Bernadine now? This war has us scattered 'round, I dunno where any of my cousins went or if they still live. Only Emily was able to contact them from afar with her magic."

Elena's heart broke watching the big man break down while trying to console his young niece and nephew. "We have to help them, Damon," she said, squeezing and tugging on his arm.

He pulled her aside to talk, lowering his voice. "I know, but it looks like Giuseppe is on the warpath. If a man is willing to shoot his own sons, what else do you think he's capable of? This wasn't supposed to happen for at least another week while the town dealt with the aftermath of the vampire roundup. For all I know, he may come back and do even worse," Damon pointed towards the family, and the broken furniture scattered around. The Bennetts didn't have much to begin with, but what they did have was mostly destroyed by the raid.

"We _all_ need to get out of here, and I'm not sure where to take them yet. The Bennetts were once a powerful matriarchy but they're basically the only free dark skinned people in the entire state right now. Due to the confederates roaming around, these people are in a lot more danger traveling anywhere around here than from just the founder's council idiots. It was easier to hide the children last time when I wasn't blocked out of my family home, thanks to Stef killing Dad, _and_ I had more time."

"Speaking of time, the sun's about to come up soon," Elena said in a panic, pointing to the slight glow of the horizon. "Mister Bennett, please invite Damon in, and I promise you we will help you. Emily made him a daylight ring, and he needs it right now."

Brian looked back and forth between the two of them, settling on Elena. "Somethin's diff'rent about you Miss Katherine. I see kindness in your eyes. I wouldn't do this, but without Emily, I dunno what else I can do, except believe you'll help us."

He then looked back to Damon. "Young master Salvatore was here too when they came for my sister and he tried to stop them from hurtin' her, but your pa wouldn't listen. He just got madder. Still, I'm thankful that he tried. You both can come in."

Damon and Elena crossed the threshhold, relieved as Damon moved into a shaded spot prior to being scorched by the rising sunlight. Brian went to a drawer and pulled out a pair of rings and the clear amulet that was empty of the magic used to seal the tomb, handing them to Damon. "These are the rings she made for you and your brother. She told me that you'd know what to do with this if she weren't around, but to only give you it once the babies are safe."

"Thank you, Brian, and I promise you that we will help." Damon replied, pocketing Stefan's ring and putting on his own, then handing the useless amulet to Elena to wear for now. They had no reason to ever open the tomb, however there was someone who always would. "What about that other vampire girl, Anna, do you know where she went?"

"No sah, she run off before the townsfolk took our Emily. Didn't say where to, but she was scared they'd find her," Brian answered.

Damon frowned at Elena and sighed. "There's only one true safe haven for them now, and it won't be easy to get them there. The Grand Contraband Camp at Fort Monroe."

Elena looked at him skeptically, trying to remember her history from back in the high school days. "That's what they called 'Slabtown' right? Where the union is protecting escaped slaves?"

"Yup, but it's also their best chance for post-war survival, and where they'll build Hampton University. The kids would even get to go to school there," Damon replied, and Brian looked up at them surprised, and a bit confused.

Elena pulled Damon off to the side, and whispered, "Is that where you brought them for protection the first time?"

His eyebrows raised, Damon snorted, "No way. I didn't have to worry about my vengeful father taking over the council's acts of aggression, plus originally ripper Stefan thinned the founders down a bit. Back then, my only goal was to keep the kiddos alive enough to keep my deal with Emily, which no longer matters. Trying to get them from here to the coast is way more than I was willing to do before. Truthfully, I'm only bringing it up because you're here and I had a 'what would Elena do' moment."

"Oh. So you don't know if it would work out?" She asked. "Do we have any other options?"

"I have no idea what's going to happen now, Elena. All I know is that my main concern is us; you, me, and Stefan. However, I'm also a big fan of our best friend Bonnie, so I'll do whatever I can to insure that she still exists. That means baby Bennett witch over there needs to grow up and have the next generation," he stated, pointing at little Bernadine. "Which will also require her to return willingly to Mystic Falls someday."

* * *

No longer cursed to the shadows, Damon decided that he wanted to go scout the witch burial ground, just in case, to see if it was all clear for him and Brian to retrieve Emily's body. He convinced Elena to stay at the Bennett's home to watch over the children so that they, and she, wouldn't need to see the gruesome sight.

When he drew near, the putrid smell of burnt flesh assaulted his enhanced vampiric senses, and he almost missed the sound of a nearby person's stuttered breathes.

Sitting with his back against a tree with his knees pulled in and facing away from the site of Emily's execution was none other than Stefan. The teen's head rested heavy where his arms wrapped around his knees, and he did not look up as Damon cautiously approached.

"Stef? Are you alright, brother?" Damon watched with concern, his emotions flaring with anger when Stefan's head lifted and their eyes met. The young human had been beaten quite savagely, his face swollen, bruised, and bloody. "What the hell happened to you, Stefan?!"

"Damon? You came back? Father...he..." Stefan squinted up at him through his good eye, his vision impaired, and he tried standing up, leaning against the tree. Damon sped over to Stefan, and without thinking he instinctively bit open his wrist and held it to his brothers mouth.

Stefan recoiled in shock, crying out in horror as he stumbled back, "Oh, no don't! You're a... oh my God! Damon..."

"Shh, calm down brother, it's going to be okay, I promise. Let me heal you. Tell me what happened," Damon urged, helping Stefan regain his balance while calming him down. Stefan shook his head, his eyes watering, but his trembling ceased and he allowed his older brother to offer his blood once again, choking it down. His face began healing, and soon there was only minor bruising.

Stefan then told him of how Giuseppe had snapped upon reawakening from being knocked out by Damon the night of the vampire roundup. The old man had raved about how foolish he had been to believe the elder son telling him that Stefan had been compelled, since only hours earlier he had unknowingly drank the vervain that poisoned Katherine. In his rage, Giuseppe had declared Damon to be possessed by demons and vowed that he would find and destroy him.

He'd then rushed to the council to organize last night's evening raid on the Bennetts, dragging Stefan along to help, and declaring the witches to be friends of the demons. Stefan had tried to stop Giuseppe and the mob from murdering Emily, and instead his father had turned his wrath on his son, 'beating the devil out of him' in front of the other men. He'd told Stefan that that his sons' shame had ruined their family's name, and that Stefan must never defy him again. After Emily's death, the mob had dispersed and Giuseppe had left Stefan laying on the ground, beaten and humiliated, ordering him to return home by morning.

"You're not going back," Damon told him.

"What else can I do?" Stefan replied. "What will _you_ do now that father wants you dead? Why didn't you let me help you rescue Katherine?"

"I was trying to protect you from getting killed by our own father, who was on his way to stop us, permanently," Damon answered, trying to decide what to do, when the wind began blowing the leaves and ashes around Emily's body in a small whirlwind towards the ruins of the old dilapitated witch house behind them.

The wretched building that remained standing was in the condition it had been left in after the 1790 massacre of a hundred witches caused by the Maxwell bell. It was yet to be renovated by future homeowners that would also abandon it long before the 21st century. Yet there it stood.

"I've got an idea, little brother," Damon announced, and Stefan turned to look, baffled. "We've got a lot of work to do."


	4. mystery

_4\. Mystery falls upon Mystic Falls_

* * *

The townsfolk of Mystic Falls were oblivious despite the major changes occurring from October through December of 1864. All of them that is, except for the the few of them still on the meager stash of vervain that the council had managed to hold onto. Even still, those families had enough problems to deal with, for they had lost control of their slaves.

In fact, in the days following the death of Emily Bennett, many of the slavefolk vanished immediately thereafter, most mysteriously reappearing days and weeks later with no idea of where they'd been. That was when the founders first discovered that despite the return of many of the confused slaves, their main sources of vervain had also vanished. The wild vervain in the area had been destroyed as well, and in desperation the council crafted wearable vervain accessories with what they had left. To their dismay, many of these items vanished as well.

With the chaos behind the scenes causing the founding families all sorts of strife and inconvenience, and their scramble to hide their inconceivable losses of assets and income due to their wayward slaves, noone cared much for the plight of old Giuseppe Salvatore's latest scandal. After the mysterious disappearance of both his sons, only days apart, it was apparent that he'd returned to abusing the bottle and let his estate go into disarray.

Noone was surprised then, when Lucia the maid, the mulatto servant he'd been rumored to have knocked up and sent away a few years earlier, suddenly reappeared at his side with a toddler aged boy named Alcide. Nor were they terribly surprised that the servant and the boy were now living in the house, or that the child had a strong resemblance to Giuseppe and had been given the surname Salvatore. After all, most of his current slaves had seemingly vanished entirely and had yet to return. Without his sons, the old man had nothing but a big empty house and plantation.

The founding families who owned farmland were desperately trying to deal with the lack of help to harvest their crops before winter. Those who were less dependant on slaves in their occupations fared considerably better. Thus, the mystery of Mystic Falls was largely covered up by the townsfolk that were aware of it happening, due to embarrassment and lack of cooperation and resources by those who were most affected. On the other hand, the Lockwoods had not suffered any losses. In their greed, they were all too willing to ignore the situation that led to them having quite the advantage over their neighbors, despite the disappearance of all the vervain.

* * *

 _September 27th, 1864:_

Emily had just been buried behind the witch house, and Brian and the Bennett children said their farewells, while Elena and the Salvatore boys watched. Stefan was understandably distracted by the presence of a very different 'Katherine', which Damon promised to explain soon. After the secret funeral, Brian nodded to Damon. Elena and Stefan remained outside, and Damon nervously entered the witch house with the living Bennetts for the first time.

 _"Emily? I know you can hear me, and so can your ancestors. I promised you I would protect your children, and that's what I'm here to do, but I need your help!" Damon called out into the silent, empty room with Brian standing next to him holding little Benjamin in one arm, his other hand resting on Bernadine's tiny shoulder._

 _Suddenly, Bernadine turned to face them, her eyes seeming to pierce straight through to Damon's very soul. He shivered as she spoke, loud but calmly, in a voice that sounded far too grown up to be the little girl's._

 _"I hear you, and although we do not welcome the presence of a vampire, we will listen to your plea. Speak now, Mr. Salvatore." Bernadine's words were clearly Emily's causing Brian to gasp and fall to his knees in front of her._

 _She smiled at Brian and gently stroked little Benjamin's cheek as he looked at his big sister with wide eyes and called out, "Mama!"_

 _Damon took a deep breath and continued, "Emily, we all know that Bernadine needs your guidance, and your brother and son need a safe haven that I know you witchy spirits can provide for them here. We can fix this place up and you could cloak it, so that it looks like ruins to anyone that comes too close. I'm going to make this town safe for your people once again, but that will take a long time. All I ask is that you let us hide out here for a while, and prevent the magical items you made for Johnathan Gilbert from leading them to us."_

 _Damon paused, then vowed, "I don't want to open the tomb, ever, and I will watch over all of your decendants as long as I live, I give you my word..."_

 _"And mine," Elena said as she entered the witch house, followed by a very frightened Stefan, surprising Damon and Brian. Bernadine's possessed gaze turned towards her, remaining stoic._

 _"You are not Katherine. Your soul is pure and bright, yet it is not our doing. Tell us who you are and how did this come to pass?" Emily spoke through her little daughter, ignoring Damon who groaned at Elena's intrusion. He was worried that the witches would be upset if they figured out the truth._

 _Immediately, to his dismay Elena blurted out, "My name is Elena Gilbert, and I am trapped in Katherine's body after a spell misfired. In the future, my best friend is a Bennett witch descendant and she meant to send me back in time with Damon, who is also her best friend. We were supposed to replace our past selves and fix things that had gone terribly wrong so that we could save a lot of innocent people from horrible monsters. It was only supposed to be a few years, but instead we got sent back a few centuries and I got stuck in my evil doppelganger's body. We don't know what happened to Katherine. Is she on the other side?"_

 _As Damon facepalmed and gripped ahold of Stefan's shoulder before his brother could run away, Bernadine frowned before Emily spoke through her once again. "Katherine has not arrived on the other side. However, we cannot condone interfering with the passage of time. Unfortunately, what's done is done, and cannot been reversed, as the future is already no longer what it was when you left. We must trust that our future daughter's actions were guided by wisdom. We have decided that both of you, master Damon and miss Elena, speak today with honest intent. Therefore, we shall allow your request for sanctuary among us, as long as you do not attempt to abuse the powerful magic this place holds. We shall be watching you both."_

As quickly as she had taken hold of the child, Emily had again left, and Bernadine whimpered in confusion, hugging her uncle Brian. The large man looked at Elena in shock at what all had been said, but knew that he must follow his sister and their ancestor witchs' decision.

Stefan, on the other hand, took much more effort to console. It took Damon the rest of that afternoon and evening to get him to calm down and agree to stay with them instead of running back to his father. He had many, many questions, and was very disturbed by the fact that 'Katherine' was now some future girl named Elena, and that the Damon he knew had been replaced by a brother that was actually over a century and a half older. Damon didn't want to tell him very much about their decades of adversity or the tragic nightmares that occurred in future times, but did his best to assure Stefan that they were here to make things better.

 _"Damon, I cannot believe all that has happened, it is just too much to fathom. If you are my brother from the future, why did you come back now with this girl, Elena Gilbert? Why didn't you return to our time with me? What happened to Katherine?" Stefan was not only confused, he was also very upset._

 _"Oh, man. Little brother, there is way too much to explain, and the truth is, we didn't mean to come all the way back to 1864. The Katherine and Elena swap was one hell of a surprising side effect for us! As far as Katherine is concerned, good riddance... she was the most diabolically evil and manipulative whore ever. She played us against each other and got us killed and turned into vampires before destroying us. Eventually, after everything she put us through we defeated her, or so we thought. Then that she-devil literally came back from hell and killed you again, permanently. That's never gonna happen now, we're gonna make sure of it," Damon figured that summary was as close to the truth as he was willing to get for now, making it clear that Katherine had been their greatest enemy rather someone who Stefan should care about._

 _He continued, "As for Elena Gilbert, the girl that is stuck in Katherine's body, she's a sweetheart. My sweetheart. She's nothing like Katherine and that's a really good thing. She came back in time with me to help save you and a bunch of other people that didn't deserve to die. It's all really complicated and too hard to explain, but you need to know that she's a good person, and she means everything to me. Without her, I'm no good Stef. I'll do whatever it takes to protect her. I'll die for her, and I'll die to protect you too. In the future, I lost you, and that's never happening again, little brother."_

That night, after Elena and Damon snuck out to feed and replenish themselves, using the old snatch, compel, and release method, he began putting the second part of his plan into action. When he returned in the morning after a long night of compelling people, he found Stefan and the Bennetts having breakfast at the dilapitated witch house. It was missing half of its roof and needed a lot of new floorboards, so keeping the children there wasn't an option until phase two of his plan was complete. They traveled light, and he and Elena snuck them out of town to temporarily stay with their new friend.

Knowing that Stefan would be free of vervain by now, he pulled his brother aside to talk alone, away from the rest of the group inside the Potter house. They went for a short walk, and Damon told Stefan about the tomb vampires trapped under the church, and how they can't be let out or they'd attack the townsfolk for revenge. He wanted to make sure that Stefan believed he had good intentions towards humans, since his little brother was still wary about him being a vampire. Damon certainly didn't want this naive and innocent version of his brother knowing about all the horrible things that he'd done to so many people the first time he'd been turned. Soon, Stefan had returned to his old self, trusting his big brother completely. That was when Damon decided to insure that this whole time travel adventure would not be in vain.

Pulling a flask out of his jacket, he handed it to Stefan before compelling the young man, "Stefan, this is now your daily medicine. You won't tell anyone what it really is, and whenever it gets low you'll come to me right away for a refill. Every morning, you will drink a big gulp of it. If you ever get seriously injured, you will drink it until you are healed. Now, tell me what you are going to do."

Stefan repeated the instructions in monotone, before pocketing the flask and recieving a bulky ring, which he was compelled to never take off and never lose. Before returning together to lady Potter's cottage, Damon told Stefan that if he did indeed die, upon awakening he'd need to come to him and Elena right away so they could help him with the transition, since otherwise it'd be a disaster, and that he'd need the ring to go outside in daylight. Stefan just nodded and repeated all he was told, following his brother back inside.

* * *

Giuseppe Salvatore was irate. Once again, he had been snubbed by the council, _those cowardly fools!_ The Lockwoods were of no help, having none of the problems that anyone else was having, and the rest of the founding families blamed him, fearing that the killing of Emily Bennett had cursed the entire town. No vampires could be found anywhere, and Johnathan Gilbert's pocketwatch device led to nowhere. The Lockwoods insisted all vampires were gone, and that the slaves had simply been revolting against those who treated them most harshly, and everything would return to normal after the north was defeated.

Giuseppe was not fooled. If the dead witch was cursing the townsfolk, then why weren't the Lockwoods just as affected? Something else was amiss, and he believed that it involved his traitorous sons conspiring against him after being seduced by the evil vampires. Everything that was happening to him was all because of that black sheep he'd sired, who's mother had ruined the boy with her coddling. Somehow Damon and that vampire bitch had managed to turn even Stefan against him. His favorite son had not returned home after his punishment, proving his unworthiness and weakness was just as great as his elder brother's. Lily's offspring had both been such disappointments, and the shame they had brought him by disappearing after their defiance had all but destroyed his standing with the council. Then, to make matters even worse, every last one of his slaves had vanished overnight, leaving his estate empty and his plantation unattended.

The other founders had abandoned him in his time of greatest need after all he had done for the town. His rage had never been greater, and he had been smashing furniture and decor that reminded him of his sons and Lily when Paul Maxwell had come by his home with a surprise visit. That man had been keeping one of Giuseppe's secrets at bay for the last year, contingent on regular payments to remain silent. The return of the former maid Lucia and her young son Alcide, his bastard, had occurred when the payments ceased, and at this point it seemed barely a scratch in his embarrassing affairs of late.

Prior to their arrival he'd been drowning his humilition and anger in bourbon, one of the only similarities he ever had seemed to have with his firstborn. Lucia had become a fine distraction in his current state, despite her being as young as his son Damon. Her skin was light for a servant of mixed race, and his bastard could easily pass as entirely Italian. Alcide would be his new heir, and Giuseppe would raise him to be the man that his legitimate sons had failed to become.

* * *

Damon had been very, very busy indeed. In the process of dealing with his own family and the Bennett witch situation, he had also been eliminating sources of vervain and compelling the council's slaves to get rid of any of the council members' vervain that they could find in their homes. It had been necessary to avoid the Lockwoods as much as possible since they were enemy number one, but he knew he could count on them to be self serving while the rest of the town suffered. Also, until George left town to rejoin the war effort, he didn't want to risk being tracked back to their headquarters of operation. Elena continually insisted that Damon could not kill Tyler's ancestor.

The compelled slaves had been ever so useful in rebuilding and repairing the witch house, however those who left had no memory of their work. The food and supplies had been well stocked, courtesy of the very baffled town of Mystic Falls, and they had plenty to get through the coming winter and more. Until it was complete, the Bennett children had been safely stashed over at Red Hill with Elena, who needed to stay out of sight, and old lady Potter, but now they had been returned to their beautiful new home where they could be protected by their ancestors.

From the outside, the large witch house appeared as it was before the restoration, thanks to the magic cloaking ability of a hundred dead witches. However, when the ancestor witches allowed someone to pass through the illusion, it was now a furnished lodge housing the Bennetts, the slaves belonging to Giuseppe Salvatore, as well as Damon, Stefan, and Elena. After all, when fully restored, it was quite large.

This also kept them safely undiscovered from the town's current werewolf. However, the witches had warned that they would not allow the vampires to remain as permanent residents, and were only tolerating their presence as long as necessary. The Bennett family, on the other hand, was expected to remain, and the slaves were welcome to seek refuge within until the time came that they could safely leave. None of the builders would remember the location once gone, thanks to Damon and Elena's compulsion.

With the witch lodge finally complete and George Lockwood once again off with the confederacy fighting the union, the time had come for the Salvatore boys to go home and face their father.


	5. return

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, I've been really busy with real life and also trying to figure out the logistics of what I plan on doing.

In response to reviewers: I definitely plan on making multiple big time leaps at some points throughout the story, but not for a while (Stefan _will_ be a permanent cast member in the story, but I've got plans for him as a human still). I can't really respond to most of the rest of the comments without giving away too many spoilers for things I have planned.

Anyway, here's the newest chapter, finally!

* * *

5\. _Return of the lost boys_

* * *

The loud ticking of the old grandfather clock seemed only to aid in his focus as Giuseppe transcribed recent events and his theories into his journal. His disciplined hand wrote detailed accounts of anything he felt to be important, despite his heavy drinking. He did not care to pace himself, even though the sun had not even begun to set.

The little boy was quiet for once, and this pleased him. Lucia had allowed his child to be far too noisy prior to his assertion of authority, but he allowed himself to smile at the thought that her and Alcide had quickly learned what was expected of them in _his_ estate. He would never again make the same mistake that he had with Lily's defiant offspring; he'd been far too lenient with Damon and Stefan, which he now regretted. He would demand strict perfection from both woman and son, and her subserviant nature had proven to be easily managed.

A shadow slid into the doorway of his study, and he furrowed his brows into a frown, prepared to scold Lucia for seeking out his company when he'd told her he'd come to her when he was finished writing. Looking up, his firm look flashed into eyes wide with surprised vulnerability, quickly shrouded back into a fierce scowl.

Of course, his visitor had not missed Giuseppe's miniscule moment of weakness, and stepped into the room with a smug grin.

"Hello, Father." Damon announced, barely concealing his amusement as the old man rose stiffly, spilling a bit of bourbon as it sloshed out of the slightly fumbled glass.

"Damon," Giuseppe glared at young man he'd vilified in his mind, moving towards the window and pulling open the blinds before growling, "Why have you returned? You are no longer welcome, and I should end you now for the shame you have brought this house, as well as almost killing me that night when you left. How dare you stand before me as though you are worthy to bear my name?"

"Paranoid, much?" Damon taunted, knowing Giuseppe was attempting to discern whether or not he was a vampire. He crossed directly in front of the beams of light from the window to close the the distance between them and placed his hand heavily on his father's shoulder, guiding him back to his chair and forcing him to sit, ignoring the man's gasp of indignation and disgust. "You should take a seat, Dad. You're a bit unsteady on your feet these days."

Giuseppe tried to stand, but it was clear that Damon's strength had become preternatural. "How...did you enter my home? You're one of those...demons, I knew it!" Grabbing his glass half full, he splashed it into Damon's face, but to his surprise the vervain in the liquid did not burn the vampire, nor aid in his own attempt to escape.

Damon frowned, sighing while keeping his temper from flaring, the liquor dripping from his face as he blinked and squinted his eyes at the irritation. He didn't even flinch as he held the struggling old man down in his chair. "Really, Father? You have been drinking far too much if even _you_ were fooled by the mock vervain I've had the town resupplied with after removing all the real sources. That's good to know, since I wasn't too sure that it would take. It really isn't _that_ hard to tell the difference, and I'm no botanist."

Backing up, he watched as his father leapt to his feet the moment he was released, his hand gripping a wooden stake he'd had stashed under the desk. Damon rolled his eyes, and commanded firmly, "Stop!"

Giuseppe froze, unable to move from the compulsion.

"Sit down, Dad. Before someone gets hurt." Forced to comply, he watched helplessly as Damon took the wooden stake from him, storing it within his own jacket. "Now that we've gotten _that_ out of the way, let's have a little chat, shall we?"

"There's nothing to talk about! I _will_ destroy you if you do not kill me, Damon," Giuseppe hissed. "You are no longer my son; only an abomination! It will be better that you be dead."

"See, Father, that's the problem, isn't it? You would have killed me even as a human, just for defying your will. Fortunately, that's no longer going to be an option for you," Damon growled, grabbing the old man by his collar and glaring into his eyes. "You will _NOT_ kill me or Stefan, nor will you plot against us in _any_ way. You will reinstate Stefan as your eldest living heir, and let it be known that I actually was killed the night of the church fire. Tell noone that I am a vampire."

With that, Damon released his hold and let Giuseppe tumble back into his chair, handing him the wooden stake before turning his back. The man gripped the wooden weapon and imediately rose to his feet, attempting to plunge it into Damon's back, but could not complete the assault. Turning back around, Damon scowled bitterly before smirking at the stake his father held inches from his chest, unable to succeed. Shaking his head, he took the offending object back and sighed.

"Well, I suppose that's settled then. On to our next order of business, Pops. Come on, they're waiting," Damon lifted the open journal from his father's desk to take with him, and gestured for Giuseppe to leave the room ahead of him. For once the old man complied on his own, having realized that it was futile to fight back at the moment.

The "they" that Damon had referred to turned out to be Stefan, Lucia, and little Alcide in the living room. Stefan, being human had been able to enter the house, yet it was obvious that he no longer held sway in its ownership when he couldn't let Damon in upon their initial arrival. Luckily, after it was established that the tiny tot had been perfectly capable of forming the words "come in", Stefan had been able to coax Alcide into providing Damon's entry. Lucia had complied with Damon's compulsion to remain quiet and calm, and that had been their first sign that the replacement of mock vervain had been a total success. So, when Giuseppe was now led into the room to join the rest of the family, he discovered his mistress sitting peacefully nearby while Stefan kept the small child entertained, playing together on the rug.

The family meeting commenced, and while Giuseppe seemed relieved that Stefan remained human, he was only willing to cooperate via compulsion. After it was decided that Lucia would remain in the estate and Giuseppe would continue to raise Alcide to be the human Salvatore heir apparent of the business aspect, both of them unabused and well cared for, the next order of business was Stefan's future.

"He's not going to be a businessman like you, Father. He wants to be a doctor, so I've decided to ensure his education. Stefan's been studying and training over at the University of Virginia near Charlottesville for a few weeks now, but it's in shoddy condition thanks to the wartime occupations. There's only a few dozen active students and an unacceptable lack of labs, so I'll be taking him elsewhere soon." Damon grinned smugly at a helplessly distraught Giuseppe before explaining his intentions.

"The last thing we need is another poorly educated quack hacking up more doomed patients than he saves. Did you know, Father, that the confederate _'doctor'_ who tended my chest wound last year was actually a barber who'd acquired a bogus two year certification from one of those fraudulent schools after reading a couple eclectic medical books? It's a miracle I didn't die from minor infections like half the soldiers I fought with."

"A pity, rather," Giuseppe sneered. "At least then your death would have been honorable and you wouldn't be this hellbound abberation in my house!"

"Oh, enough of the beligerent attempts to insult my existential status quo," Damon muttered, getting annoyed.

"Father, you cannot mean that!" Stefan interrupted, still finding it difficult to contemplate, even after everything that had occurred over the last several weeks. "Surely it is better that your sons both live, however that may be in Damon's case. Even as a vampire Damon has proven that he is a loyal brother and a good man worthy of our respect. I've witnessed nothing ill-willed from him in all the weeks we've been away. He does not kill any of those whome he feeds from! If only you would see the great deeds he has accomplished, rather than the destruction caused by all this unnecessary hatred of vampires... and witches. Please, Father, try to reconsider..."

Damon outwardly cringed a bit at Stefan's innocently conceived defense of his character, watching the look of utter contempt and digust flitter across Giuseppe's face. He and Elena had not exactly been letting Stefan witness everything, but it was true that none of those compelled to 'voluntarily' let them feed upon them had died. Of course, this sheltered human version of Stefan had never truly seen Damon's dark side, and there hadn't seemed to be any good reason to talk about the regrets of the past that no longer existed in this new timeline.

In fact, his little brother was still very much a child in comparison to the experienced and worldly Stefan that they'd lost in the future. Sometimes it battered at Damon's jaded soul to see his brother's intact pureness; though the young man had been wounded by their father's actions and shocked by the events that led to Damon's transition and Katherine's sudden transformation into Elena, overall Stefan was still so very sweet and undamaged. The dark part of Damon missed the Stefan that was just as miserable as he'd been for centuries together, and sometimes guilt hit him in the gut as he yearned for the lost brother that he could relate to, rather than this pure soul that he now worked so hard to preserve.

Deep down, Damon still felt all the guilt from the sins that he'd once commited, despite the mulligan that had erased them from history, and he felt most undeserving of such praise at these moments especially. It had been a very long time in his memories since he'd been so idolized by Stefan, and rather than pride, he now felt the butterflies of doubt creep in. Whenever Elena was around, she seemed to be able to pick up on the signs before he was able to withdraw into self loathing, but it was imperative that she stay out of sight. Katherine must stay presumed dead so that Elena would not be in danger of Klaus, and until they left the region she could not be seen. That meant that she was unable to accompany Damon and Stefan on their visit to the Salvatore estate. It also meant that he was unaided by her calming presence and that his newly reborn vampire emotions were currently a struggle to control.

He had not realized how many emotions he'd be feeling until this moment as he now stood before his judgemental and disapproving father and found himself defended by a youthful brother that knew so little. For a moment, it was as if he were experiencing a timeless moment of deja vu, and his dead heart thumped an unsteady beat. Defying the lump that threatened to choke his throat, he swallowed the painful emotions back down and focused back on self control. Regaining control of his new vampire biology was still an ongoing daily exercise that was only made easier by his past experience and the loving support that Elena almost constantly provided. Focusing his emotions on happy thoughts of Elena was his 'go to' method.

Taking a deep breath, he realized that he'd managed to skip listening to several minutes of Giuseppe and Stefan bickering about whether or not Damon, vampires, and witches were good, bad, or ugly.

"Stop talking!" Damon shouted, imediately bringing the room quiet, momentarily, before Alcide began to cry. "Ugh, no, no, no, none of _that_. Lucia, please go put littlest bro to bed, mmkay? Thanks, sweetheart. After that you may join the... others."

The young woman stood, carrying her child away to his nursery, and the crying ceased. Damon exhaled the breath he'd been holding in.

"You know, Dad, it's kinda disconcerting that your new girlfriend is my age," Damon commented, noting that Stefan had been unconsiously eyeing her rear as she swayed while walking away from them.

"Girlfriend?" Giuseppe bit, put off by Damon's frequent changes in manner of speech.

"Yeah, you know, that sinful gray area beween courtship and marriage where you have all the fun. Except that you weren't planning on ever marrying a servant, and until recently, Stef and I hadn't known we even had a half-brother. If you'd died before it became public knowledge, we'd only have found out from your journal that there was a spare heir. Ironic, considering how critical you always were about my past _girlfriends_ , don't you think?" Smirking, he disregarded his father's scowl.

"Oh, right, one last order of business and we can wrap up this joyful family reunion," Damon announced, and led the other two men towards the kitchen, where the formerly missing house slaves were preparing dinner.

"These are the people that agreed to return to our home without any sort of compulsion, with the expectations that they are to be treated with the respect that would be given to any hired help. This means that they're going to be paid, starting now, and are free to quit at any time. The slave shacks are now being properly rebuilt into dignified servants' quarters to board our loyal employees. Don't look so glum, Father, it's much better for everyone that we begin this transition into the modern world as soon as possible. Slavery is bad, and we're just going to get a head start on what's inevitable anyway. Also, there won't be much profitability in the plantation anymore so I've drawn up a few new plans of business to get us set up in the right direction." Damon prevented Giuseppe from arguing by adding the necessary compulsion as he went on with his commands.

"You _will_ follow these instructions, and I'll check up on the estate from time to time. All of my shares of the profits will be directed to Stefan, since I'm 'dead'." He waggled his eyebrows, and Giuseppe was not impressed when Stefan chuckled and plopped Damon's prepared portfolio of business plans in front of him.

"Start with the milling ventures; those plans are on top. Also, I've begun designs for a seperate boarding house from this estate. It seems that our family may possibly expand a bit more than...expected. One last thing. Absolutely do _not_ join forces with the Lockwoods, or anyone else, to prevent the success of any of this. Just so you know, be wary of the Lockwoods. They've got their own special breed of family secrets and are actually extremely dangerous. Vampires and witches aren't the only supernatural beings in Mystic Falls, but I'd be unwise to share details with you."

"What? Then why be so cryptic? Why should I believe anything that comes out of your mouth when you are freeing them," Giuseppe accused while pointing at the bustling cooks, completely overwhelmed at his utter loss of control of his own household, "Only to enslave me?"

"You left me no choice! All this, right now, is about self-preservation and fixing a catastrophic disaster. I don't, and can't expect you to ever work with me willingly, Father. Hopefully, before you die, you'll figure out that _everything_ I'm doing is to save our family. I won't even make you deal with me directly, for the most part, but everything I'm forcing you to comply with now is for the best. Oh, look, they're just about done with supper, and Lucia is back. Let's eat." The newly promoted servants smiled at Damon and Stefan as they served the Salvatores before taking their own portions to their own families.

Giuseppe and Lucia sat at the dining table with his eldest sons as instructed, and watched in shock as the rest of the outdoor laborers were now filing into the house. The servants were now settling into their temporary rooms until they finished building their new upgraded housing to replace the slave shacks, as they had been working on throughout the day. The former slaves that had chosen to return with Damon had evacuated the witch house that morning, and begun working during his meeting with Giuseppe. For the most part, they'd all been thrilled by the deal to stay on as hired help, since otherwise they'd likely have faced few and dangerous other options elsewhere. Instead of a life of poverty, they'd be protected from abuse yet technically free, even before the war ended. Dinner with Giuseppe and his mistress was rather awkward, but by the time Damon left, he was confident that the day had been a complete success. He didn't even have to kill anyone. Elena would be pleased.

* * *

"Knock, Knock," Damon called out as he strolled into the Bennett's witch lodge, unashamedly. It was certainly much quieter now that most of it's occupants had left that morning en route to the Salvatore's.

"Day!" The little ball of energy known as Benjamin Bennett toppled into his leg. The rugrat couldn't speak very well yet but he'd just begun his mastery of running, and falling with style.

"Ben Ben!" Damon picked up his little buddy, tossing him around. "Where's our girls?"

Benjamin pointed his stubby finger towards the direction of chatter down the hall before squirming to be put down. Rounding the corner, he was met by the kind smile of old lady Potter sitting in her new rocking chair stitching the torn gown of a small unbreeched child. Across from the elderly widow, Elena glanced up with a grin from the leather bound book she was teaching Brian and Bernadine to read.

"How'd it go?" Elena asked, hesitantly, tilting her head. "Where's Stefan?"

Stalking over to a chair where he promptly fell back onto, he let out a long sigh. It had been a rather emotionally taxing day, which he hadn't really expected to hit him as hard as it did.

"Stef wanted to spend the night at home. I think he misses it, especially since he knows we're leaving soon. It's all good though, Giuseppe's compelled to be about as harmless as a heel hound now." Damon bit his cheek as Brian stood up and walked out of the room, frowning at the mention of the man that murdered his sister. Bernadine hopped up and followed her uncle out as Elena put the book down. Old lady Potter interrupted the awkward moment by clearing her throat, as Benjamin climbed up onto her lap.

"You know, dears, my house in Red Hill is empty now that we've all moved in here. I've been invited to stay and help with the children, and I've decided to accept. It's certainly better than spending my final years all alone. My old bones have traveled far enough, so if you'd like, the cabin is yours. Just in case you'd like a bit more privacy, and all," she said gently.

The two vampires glanced at each other and stood, thanking the old woman for all of her generosity over the last few months. Letting her know that they'd be back to check on things in a few days, as well as pick up Stefan, they took her up on her offer and slipped away into the darkening forest.

Once outside, Damon confessed to Elena that he hadn't realized how long he'd been bothered by the fact that he'd never been able to confront his father after being shot in his previous past life.

"Giuseppe tormented me all through my childhood and then made me feel like a incompetent imbecile as a young man. Then he was just _gone_ , thanks to Stefan's bloodlust."

Now that it was finally done, it was as if he'd purged one more grudge he'd held against Stefan for over a century, since last time his brother had killed the old man right away.

"I'm glad you finally had the chance to find some closure, Damon. I hope that it isn't going to end up being too painful for you to have to relive so much of your past, but I think it's really a good thing that you're finally sharing your emotions with me now, instead of acting destructive and lashing out." Elena squeezed his hand, and he grinned at her a little embarrassed.

"I'm trying, Elena. This time I'm really trying. Just don't ever leave me. There's no way I can go through all of this again without you. When you were in a coma, every single day was hell."

She held him firmly and looked into his eyes, promising, "I'm not going anywhere without you. You're mine, Damon, and I'm yours. I love you, Damon. You."

He kissed her lips hard, crushing them in his relief, before pulling back. He didn't like that they were still so close to the Bennett lodge where he always felt the presence of a hundred dead witches watching. "Then let's hurry up and get to that cabin, and we can share our love all night long," he said with an eyebrow waggle, pulling them in the right direction.

* * *

They started out flitting through the forest at vampire speed, until Damon abrubtly came to a halt, his nostrils flaring to the metallic scent lingering in the air. Elena looked at him warily, knowing that he was being drawn to hunt, despite still being in Mystic Falls. It was less of a risk for them to be seen at night, but they'd had plenty of safe options over the weeks that theyd been living in a full house of servants, so hunting had been unnecessary.

"I shoulda fed on someone before I left Dad's, but I was so ready to get outta there I forgot," Damon admitted sheepishly. "In fact I've been so distracted it's been over two days. The smell in the air is as luring as a Burger King, which means it's probably a triage camp full of dying soldiers." He groaned, and rubbed his gums where his fangs kept piercing through.

Elena pulled out the sealed wooden canteen from her knapsack of spare clothes. "Here, I've still got some of this leftover from this morning before they left. It's been cold out today so it's probably still good." She handed him the canteen and he opened it, taking a sniff before scrunching his nose.

"Who's blood was this?" he whined, handing it back without drinking any, not liking the scent. He cringed as she chugged it down with a slight grimace.

"Barney's. Oh, don't look at me like that, he was kind to volunteer a blood donation, and it tasted fine," she insisted.

"Ewww, gross. No wonder it smelled rotten. Barney is one of those humans that have a weird smell to begin with. Never drink from people that smell abnormal, it's a sign of some sort of terminal disease. Bad people blood can make you sick, just like squirrels. I'd rather drink a bambi than any free donations from Barney." Damon complained, as Elena rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm not gonna be much fun tonight if I don't get some fresh blood, so let's get in and get out quick. It's dark, but keep your head down," he stated, walking slowly towards the camp.

As they neared, the sounds of moans and coughing were far more prevalent than the few voices of the handful of nurses and doctors tending to the many injured and dying. Damon huddled nearby a young man that appeared unconcious, his head wrapped with a bloody bandage and his breathing slow. The poor guy had a leg amputated and a severe burn over half his body.

Whispering, he told Elena, "This fellas done for anyway, he won't make it through the night and I'll be putting him out of his misery." She turned her head, nodding, but unable to watch the man die as she struggled not to cry. The camp was a place of utter despair, and as soon as Damon finished, she let him lead her away.

"Oh my God, Damon, that was awful. Even when I interned at the hospital when I was in college, I never saw so many horrible injuries. I wish we could go help them all heal," she said, still overwhelmed by the scene she'd witnessed, tears still glistening in her eyes.

He immediately regretted stopping at the camp for blood. "That's a bad idea, Elena. I know you will want to save everyone and that's your calling in life, and I love that about you, but we can't make too many drastic changes in this time without risking extreme consequences in the future. Anytime we save someone that was meant to die, they'll make even more changes that will be out of our control. We need to take care of our own lives and let everyone else live out their fates like they were supposed to, even if that means letting them die. As selfish as that may be, it's our best bet for making it back to the future where all your friends still exist someday. Any changes we do make need to have a strategic purpose."

"Wow, Damon. You're right, that sounded _extremely_ selfish, considering you've spent the last few months manipulating the entire town!" Elena argued passionately. "Why are you allowed to change anything you want for your own benefit, but I'm just supposed to stay back and do nothing?"

"But, well, no... because I'm basing all the changes I make on things that are are either absolutely necessary, or that I can predict the most likely result. The stuff I'm doing is all being carefully calculated by the information I already know from living through this time before, and I also know how the people here will likely react. I'm not just carelessly making random decisions that could result in total chaos." Damon claimed, hoping that she'd just drop it.

She didn't respond at all, and he started to smile, thinking that the matter was settled, and praying that she'd be back in a better mood once he got her to the cabin. The smile disappeared when he turned and saw the open mouthed surprise on her face as she looked past him. Turning to see what she was looking at, he was too late to stop Elena from blurting out, "Is that Lexi!?"

Standing only several yards away from them wearing a long hooded cloak, it was most certainly Lexi, and she was staring right back at them with a baffled expression on her face. They had no way of knowing when they'd caught her attention, or how much of their conversation she'd heard. " _Wow_. Umm, so you know me, but who are _you_?" she whispered back at them through the darkness.

The pathetic choked whimper that involuntarily sounded from Damon's throat left him feeling mortified. Unfortunately for him, Elena was thrilled to find someone that she recognised, and wasted no time rushing to greet the other female vampire.


	6. friends

6\. Friends worth suffering for

* * *

Elena's enthusiasm was in total contrast with Damon's clenching jaw. "My name is Elena, and I don't even know how I can possibly make any of this _not_ sound totally crazy, but it's amazing that we've found you here!"

"Oookay?" Lexi raised an eyebrow, looking at Elena curiously as she waited for some sort of explanation that made any sense.

Cutting into the strange greeting after regaining his composure, Damon tried to get Elena to disengage, saying "Well, isn't this an unexpected surprise? Unfortunately, this is neither the time nor place for having a meet and greet, and I'm sure that Mother Theresa here would like to continue feeding soup to wounded warriors before she has to find somewhere dark and cozy to hide when the sun comes up. Too bad she can't get in where we are headed. _Come on,_ Elena..." He tried tugging at her arm, but she just shook her head and scoffed.

"Who is Mother Theresa?" Lexi was even more confused.

"Oh, no, Damon, you are not getting out of this _that_ easily. There's no reason for us to leave Lexi here like this, and its not even midnight, so the sun won't be a problem for hours," she stated firmly, and easily pulled her arm out of Damon's weaker grip, ignoring his frustration. "Lexi, I know this sounds very strange, but there are things we know about, and you're part of it. I know that you came here because you heard that Mystic Falls was a good place for vampires, but that isn't true. It's not safe here anymore because the town knows about us and has an anti-vampire council, so we have to be extra careful not to be discovered. They're even willing to harm humans, including Damon's brother, just for helping vampires."

Wait, your brother is a human?" Lexi commented surprised, reappraising him with her head tilted. "Oh my, you're still a newborn vampire aren't you? That's strange, you seemed much more...inured."

"Physically now, technically, yes. I was turned several weeks ago." Damon responded frowning, with a shrug of indifference and no attempt to elaborate.

"...But there's more to the story than that. A lot more," Lexi deduced, looking from him back to Elena. "There's a lot more to both of you, isn't there?"

"There is," Elena answered. "This isn't the first time we've met you, even though it's the first time you've met us. I know that we can trust you, and I promise that you can trust us. Even _Damon_. Isn't that right, Mr. Salvatore?"

She elbowed him hard, glaring, and he sighed and grumbled, "Sure, yeah, of course," throwing his hands up in acquiescence.

As they moved further into the woods away from the camp, Lexi eyed both of them indecisively before asking, "I've seen a lot of strange things over a few centuries, but this is the first time I've met anyone who's supposedly traveled through time...and I spotted you both the moment you entered the camp, so I've already heard enough to know that you both seem to believe that's true. Why don't you start by telling me how it is that you know so much about _me_?"

Elena looked at Damon, his face pasted with a grim, worried frown. She hesitated, trying to think of how to answer her. Recalling the time she first discovered Johnathan Gilbert's journals while hiding out at the cabin with Stefan, she answered, "A friend of mine once told me a story about a kind vampire who helped him regain his humanity, back when he didn't know what good it would do for him to feel emotions, which seemed to bring only pain. She reminded him that the ability to love was worth fighting for even in the darkest of times. That vampire was you, and my friend will need you again someday, I'm sure of it. Please, give me a chance to introduce you to him, and don't worry about my grumpy boyfriend. Damon is just having a hard time dealing with karma at the moment."

He rolled his eyes and Lexi took a deep breathe, shocked by what she was hearing. While this all sounded as if it was out of this world, it was impossible to ignore the geniune honesty in Elena's voice. "Does this alleged friend of mine have a name, or is that also something that hasn't happened yet?"

"His name is Stefan, and he is Damon's younger brother, but no you haven't met him yet. You were supposed to become best friends, but we've already messed a lot of things up after being sent back in time by a powerful spell, and now his life has been drastically altered, but mostly in a good way. We're trying to make things that went wrong better, but unfortunately you were one of the few things that went right when it comes to Stefan's tale, and now we've screwed that up," Elena said, struggling to find the right words.

Damon snorted rudely, "Ha, that's debatable! If it wasn't for Lexi enabling Stefan's alternative puppy diet, he'd have been forced to learn to _control_ his blood addiction instead of avoiding it until he inevitably snapped and turned ripper. This time, when he eventually does become a vampire, I'll be the one to train him properly from the start."

"You can't possibly know if that's true Damon, and _you're_ the one that chose to torment Stefan and then abandoned him, leaving Lexi to pick up the pieces for a century!" Elena snapped in irritation.

Damon's eyes darkened by her accusation. " _Touche_ ," he responded, backing away. "And on that note, I'll let you and Stef's new, old, renewed bestie get all reacquainted and whatever it is you want to do. Although, I'm sure my lil' bro's in dreamland right now, being mortal and all." He pointed to the night sky and furrowed his brows continuing to walk further away, calling out "You know, I guess I'll be paying for my past mistakes for all eternity, because even if they no longer exist, my girlfriend will never let me forget my bad deeds. Regardless, I'll be back tomorrow, seeing as how I traveled back in time to save my brother's life and have no intention of ever abandoning him again."

"Damnit, Damon, wait! Don't be like this. I'm sorry I brought that up, I really didn't mean to, I was just getting so frustrated. I promise I won't do it again, because you really have changed so much over the years since we first met. I don't want us to fight," Elena pleaded, taking a breath. "You begged me never to leave you, well now I'm asking you to return the favor by not walking away the first time I say the wrong thing. We traveled through time _together_ , and I'm here with you because I love you. We're going to change everything for the better, _together_."

Damon stopped in his tracks, pausing for a moment, before turning back around and facing her. He then flew back to her at vampire speed, slamming his lips to hers, and she opened to him instantly. The kiss was harsh and lasted only seconds, before he pulled back and said, "You really love me?"

"You know I do, you big jerk." she answered, giving him another quick peck.

"I'm not that big," he chuckled, "you're just pretty small."

"Ahem," Lexi cleared her throat, reminding Elena of her presence. Damon rolled his head back, annoyed that she hadn't left. "Sorry to interrupt, but you were starting to explain the matter of traveling back in time, and why I need to meet your friend Stefan?"

"I wouldn't call it a 'need', more along the lines of a _very_ annoying and apparently unavoidable fate," Damon retorted.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry about all this," Elena answered, embarrassed. "Maybe I should start from the beginning, if you've got the time to listen to a long, crazy story. We do have a place you can stay at tomorrow, and I might even be able to get the witches to make you a more permanent solution if we can find some lapis lazuli jewelry for you to wear. Damon, did you get Emily's grimoire back from Giuseppe?"

He groaned as his hopes for making it to Potter's cabin with Elena tonight were definitively dashed. "Uhh, no. I was too distracted by finally confronting my long dead, no longer dead dad. Besides, aren't you forgetting something? Bernadine's not a trained witch yet, she's still learning to read three letter english words, so I'm fairly certain that latin-like magic spells are gonna be a bit over her four year old reading level."

This time it was Elena's turn to eye roll. "Well, obviously, we'd have to ask Emily. If the witch spirits can hide the whole lodge to protect Bernadine and the others, I'm guessing that 'spirit' Emily could do a simple daylight ring spell, especially if we bring the grimoire back to Bernadine." Lexi's eyes widened as she listened.

"Fine, I'll task Stefan to retrieve it from our dear father, tomorrow," Damon conceded, mumbling. "I'm sure he'll get less grief for it than I would. Dad warmed back up to him pretty quick by the time I left the estate, since he's not a 'demon'. Although, Stefan always was the favorite, anyway."

"After having met you, I wonder why that may be..." Lexi said sarcastically, and Elena couldn't help but grin, biting her lip so Damon wouldn't see. He just glared at Lexi for intruding on his night alone with Elena.

So, after a relatively short trip back to the witch lodge, whose occupants were all fast asleep, Lexi had been told the short and watered down version of her original adventures with Stefan the broody ripper. That did not include the later events where Damon ditched her on a scorching rooftop, nor when he killed her, however it was still rather apparent that they'd never gotten along well. They also touched base a bit on the story of Katherine screwing with everyone in town, what had recently happened in Mystic Falls with the vampires, and how Damon had orchestrated the slaves to build the witch house and eradicate as much vervain as possible.

"So, after all that work, you are still just going to leave town? That makes about as much sense as the fact that Damon seems to dislike me just for being friends with his brother, who I still haven't even met yet." Lexi questioned, wondering what part of the story she was missing.

Damon smirked. "Right, so here's the thing. When we came back in time, I got my old body back, but Elena wasn't born yet, and she got plopped into Katherine's because they're magically designed carbon copies of each other; ' _Doppelgangers'_. While Elena is kind and good, Katherine was selfish and evil. Not only was she the cause of the entire nightmare... she did it all just to get an old enemy off her trail. That means that Elena now has to disappear, just like Katherine would have, or a really bad original super vampire known as Klaus will kill her. So you see, you'd be really foolish to stick around with us, especially if you actually believe any of what we've said."

"He's right," Elena confirmed. "It is too much to ask for you to join us. If Klaus ever finds out that Katherine didn't die in the church or even get trapped inside the tomb, or if he hear's that she has an identical lookalike running around, he'll come after me and anyone near me. The worse part is that we can't ever kill him, because if he dies his entire bloodline dies with him, and that includes all of us. We'd need a witch to magically stop his heart, and put him into a magical stasis. This entire town is better off if I leave now. The only reason we're still here now is that we needed to help our friend's ancestors and Damon wanted to deal with his family's affairs. Stefan's situation is unique, and we are bringing him with us wherever we go. If you'd like, we can still get you a daylight jewel, and then part ways. Just please promise to never repeat anything you heard," Elena finished, sad that it would be so selfish to bring Lexi into their world of problems.

Lexi was silent for a few moments, before smiling at Elena. "I think I am going to need to think about all this, and I would like to meet this Stefan I have now heard so much about. The possibility of being able to walk in the daylight once again after centuries of being enslaved to the night is also too tempting to pass up. So for now, I would like to stay with you, if you will have me."

"Of course we will have you! I promise that Damon will be nice if he has any hope of enjoying our forever together." Elena stated happily, to which Damon scoffed but did not reply.

By the time dawn broke, the little witch children had awoken early to the return of the vampires, and had made a fast and easy friendship with Lexi. Elena managed to summon Emily, asking if the spirits could possibly enchant a daylight ring for her. She was relieved to be told that if they returned the valuable grimoire to it's rightful Bennett heir, they would be rewarded once, and only once, with a magical ring only for Lexi. She had to promise that no other vampires would ever be brought before them, and was told that all similar future requests would be denied. At some point, Damon slipped away into the forest, heading back to the Salvatore estate to talk to his brother.

* * *

"Psst, Stef, I need you do do me a favor."

Stefan rolled over as he woke to find Damon standing at the foot of his bed. "Damon, you startled me!" He grumbled.

Damon ignored his complaint and sat down on the edge of Stefan's bed. "I need to you get Emily's grimoire back from Giuseppe, and don't let him damage it."

"You know that there's no chance he will give it to me without you compelling him to, he would not want us to have it," Stefan whined in annoyance.

Once again, Damon ignored him and pressed on, "So tell him if he does not want another visit from me so soon, he'll be cooperative. He'll do anything to avoid my presence. Oh, and try to find me that big brooch with the blue rocks in it that Dad gave our mother back in '57 as an 'I'm sorry for smacking you so hard' gift, it's not like she ever wore it except when he pinned it on her. I need it."

Stefan groaned, sitting up. "What? Why?"

"Well, certainly not for sentimental value... but lapis lazuli is useful when making magical daylight jewelry," he answered, standing back up and walking to Stefan's dresser, before tossing his brother a pair of trousers.

"For who? I thought that all the vampires are gone, except for you and Elena. They have not escaped from that tomb you warned me about, have they?" Fear flashed across Stefan's face, as he dreaded the possible repercusions. When he'd first learned about the tomb, he'd been terrified.

Damon chuckled, "Oh, no, fear not little brother. It's for Elena's new best friend, _Lexi_. She's an obnoxiously good vampire. You'll like her."

Stefan swung his feet over the side of his bed, pulling his trousers on. "Okay, but don't you think we could find something better to give her than that ugly old thing?"

"Of course we could, but we won't. It is perfectly suitable." Damon smirked, and tossed a shirt at Stefan's face before he was ready to catch it.

"Alright, if you say so, Damon." Stefan pulled it off of his face, putting it on, then pulling his blood flask out from under his pillow. "Before you go, I need a refill; I ran out of medicine last night after using it to heal a broken arm. I tripped over one of Alcide's toys on the staircase."

Damon stared at him for a moment in disbelief before reaching for the flask, biting into his own wrist to fill it with blood. "Sure, let me fill it up for you right now. You haven't let father or anyone see this have you?"

"No, I am always very discreet," Stefan replied. "No one saw me fall, and I returned to my room before using it to heal."

Damon inhaled sharply. "Good. Here you go, brother. When you're ready to leave this place, meet us back at the witch lodge." Damon then added, "Try not to injure yourself on the way."

Stefan nodded. "If I can get the grimoire from Father today, then I will be there by tonight."

Damon patted his brother on the shoulder: "Thank you, Stefan. Just be careful as always, and remember that none of us are safe as long as we stay in town. The rest of the council may not be so thrilled to see that you have returned, even if you are still human. They're all still very suspicious. There are far too many threats, in fact, I wouldn't put it past Giuseppe to figure out some sort of loophole around my compulsion in order to cause us problems."

Stefan sighed, sadly. "I understand, brother. I'll make sure that I am not followed. What about Alcide?"

Damon paused. "Is he being treated well?"

Stefan smiled as he stood up. "Yes, Father has been good to him, as well as Lucia and even the workers. He complains loudly about all of them living in the estate while they rebuild their own housing, but he has not raised a hand to anyone since he was compelled not to. Alcide is treated better than anyone. Our half-brother should be fine to remain home with Father and his mother."

"Perfect." Damon said, pleased. "Then he can stay. He's far too young to travel with us, and we need him to live here. We'll check back in on him from time to time."

Stefan was glad to hear this, having been worried about whether or not they'd come back. He was looking forward to leaving Mystic Falls for the first time in his young life, but didn't want it to be forever. "That would be ideal. I'd like to come home to visit between semesters, if that is possible."

"We'll figure it out. See you soon, I've gotta get back to Elena before she adopts any more complications from my past." Damon said, before heading to the window.

Before Damon could leave, Stefan grabbed hold of his shoulder, wondering, "Regarding Elena, do you intend to wed her?"

Damon grinned. "Absofuckinlutely, as soon as there's ever a good time and place somewhere in this crazy world." That said, he sped away, leaving Stefan alone in his bedroom.

It had take a while for Stefan to adjust to Elena having replaced Katherine, but he'd grown very fond of her over the last couple months, and it was undeniable that she was very good for his brother. Occassionally, he wished that Elena would show the same interest in himself that Katherine had, but it was clear that Elena only wanted Damon. Stefan was a bit jealous over what Damon had, but overall he was happy for his older brother. He just hoped that he'd find someone else just as beautiful that he could have all to himself.

* * *

On the way back to Elena, Damon noticed a familiar group of crows watching him closely. He grinned, knowing exactly what they were looking for, and pulled a pouch out of his jacket. Scattering the peanuts behind him on the ground, he looked on as several of them dared to come nearer to him than the last time. Crows were such clever animals, it never took them long to recognise a friendly source of treats. This same extended family had been aware of him for a few weeks now, and he knew they'd continue to follow as long as they got what they wanted.

Being such a newly made vampire again sucked, but with his past experience, he was finding that he was able to perform some advanced abilities much sooner than he'd have expected. It was taking a lot of concentration, but if he focused hard enough, he was beginning to make headway at breaking into a few of their thoughts, even if only for a few moments. The female albino crow was particularly receptive to his mind control and would make a perfect target for teaching Elena his tricks. It would take more time, but peanuts were cheap.

* * *

Hours later, Stefan finally arrived at the hidden Bennett house, carrying a sack filled with his belongings that he wanted to take with him. Damon was waiting outside, and walked over to greet him. Stefan handed him the bulky grimoire. "Here's the spellbook, and the brooch. Oh, and I thought you should have this too."

Damon clutched the tiny piece of gold that had been dropped into his hand, taking a deep breath. "Mom's wedding ring..."

Stefan smiled brightly at him, "I thought you might want it for Elena. Even if Mother can't be here with us, I believe that she would like that and she'll be watching."

Damon looked down, his chest tightening, and he led Stefan away from the house after seeing Elena and Lexi heading out to greet them. "There's something you need to know Stefan. It's going to be hard to hear, but it's better that you know sooner than find out later, unprepared."

Stefan looked into Damon's eyes, his smile vanishing. "You are worrying me, brother. Please, speak plainly."

Damon looked behind them, holding his hand up so that Elena did not yet approach and lowered his voice. "Much, much later than now, in the future we discovered that Mother was turned by vampire blood at the sanitarium where she died of consumption. She's not truly gone Stefan, but she's not doing very well either."

Damon sqeezed Stefan's shoulder trying to soothe him as the shock defined his features. "Unlike me and Elena, Lily can't handle the bloodlust, and she left the country for Europe because she was terrified that she'd harm us. That angel you saw all those years ago Stefan, that was really our mother after she had risen from the dead as a starved vampire. She panicked and ran away from us, and now she's lost her humanity. I'm so sorry little brother. I have dreaded telling you about this moreso than anything else."

Stefan tried to swallow the massive lump in his thoat, nearly choking. "Our mother is a vampire? She's alive, like you?"

Damon face was pained, and he noticed unhappily that he'd not gone far enough away from the house. He'd underestimated Elena's sense of hearing, now seeing her holding her hand over her mouth, but saw no point in stopping now. "Not just any vampire, Stefan. She's a very dangerous vampire without any self control or emotions. She's under the influence of a very evil, very powerful vampire named Julian, and as long as he's with her, she cannot be saved."

Stefan dropped to his knees, feeling crushed, prompting Elena to start heading towards them to hug Stefan. Before she got close enough, Stefan cried out, "If we can find her, then we can help her. Damon, we must try! Now that you are a vampire, she will no longer need to be afraid to hurt us. Even if she was to hurt me by accident, I would simply become a vampire too. She's our mother!"

Damon grabbed him, firmly. "No, Stefan! It's far too dangerous. Perhaps one day things will change, but for now, I will not let you put yourself in harm's way." Then he compelled Stefan, "You will not seek out our mother unless I tell you otherwise."

Stefan became angry, and Elena reached them as he shouted back, "You just _compelled_ me?! How can you tell me all of this, and then tell me to do nothing to find her!"

"I'm sorry Stefan, but I can't let you go get yourself killed." Damon apologized "If we can figure out a way to destroy Julian and turn our mother's humanity back on, it will have to be without putting your life at risk. That's non-negotiable. If Julian has any idea that we even know any of this, he would want to kill us all. He already knows what you look like. You met him a year ago, without knowing he was checking up on you with another one of his pretty little minions. Remember the girl that you wrote to me about?"

Stefan's anger dissipated back into shock. "Pretty little minions? Wait, do you mean... Valerie? She was escorted by a strange man named Julian. That would explain a lot! I cannot believe that she was a vampire too, before even Katherine. Both of the women that I fell for in my life were vampires that were tricking me!"

The poor young man was appalled, so Damon decided to tell him, "No, she wasn't a vampire back then, she was a witch, and she did care for you. She became a vampire after Julian caught her trying to sneak back to you, and now she's just as dangerous as our mother." Damon paused, knowing that he was about to get reamed, but compelled Stefan one last time, "Do not seek out Valerie, either."

Stefan roared, hitting Damon in the chest in an attempt to push him away. "Stop compelling me Damon!" He spun around, tucking his face into his arm while leaning upon a tree, a sob escaping his throat. "Let me be, I want to be alone for a while. This is all so much. I am glad you told me about Mother, but I am warning you Damon... Do not ever compel me again, or I will leave you and go home."

Elena glared at Damon, pointing towards the house, and he held his hands up before silently picked up the grimoire and Stefan's other belongings to bring indoors, watching as Elena went to console his brother. As he walked past Lexi into the house, she glanced away from him, so he went to go read Giuseppe's journal that he'd swiped.

After talking gently to Stefan for several moments, Elena waved Lexi over to introduce them to one another, and it wasn't long before the three of them were back in good spirits, laughing and joking around like old friends. Damon watched them as he scanned through the journal, looking for any differences from the one he'd read before the mulligan. Everything that had been added after that fateful night of the vampire roundup was pretty much nothing that Damon didn't already know about, and mostly just hateful ramblings of an angry man, so he tossed it aside.

That evening, as they spent their final night within the confines of Mystic Falls, Lexi got a newly enchanted daylight brooch. Old Lady Potter was happy to stitch some of the witch lodge's special stock of the last known vervain in town into Stefan's favorite suspenders. He had forgiven Damon, but was not about to let his brother continue to manipulate his free will.

Damon eventually joined them together in the main room, glad to see that Stefan was no longer angry with him. He insisted that Stefan take back their mother's ring and hold onto it. While it wasn't a great fit for him and Elena due to their dealings with Lily in the old future, perhaps Stefan might like to give it to the right girl someday.

For the time being it seemed as if Damon was even beginning to warm a bit towards Lexi, as he was thankful to her and Elena for cheering up Stefan. Maybe everything would work out after all.

That night, Elena joined Damon in bed, but with a full house, including witch spirits and Lexi's enhanced hearing, he only managed to steal a few kisses. The time to move out of the lodge was long overdue.

* * *

The next morning, Damon awoke to an empty bed and could hear an excited discussion occurring downstairs. There were several more voices than should have been present and alarm bells immediately began ringing in his head. Hurrying to find out what was going on, he passed by a sleepy Stefan in the hall, having also been wakened, who shrugged in confusion.

As Damon approached the group, Elena looked over at him, beaming, while Lexi stood nearby looking a bit nervous about the commotion.

"Damon, we've got passengers to bring with us. We're going to be part of history!" Elena called out, sounding thrilled. "This is Brian's friend, Arthur, his wife Fannie, and their children Elmer and Nettie. We're going to help them find the underground railroad!"

Behind Damon, Stefan gasped in terror, and next to Elena, Lexi's eyes were as wide as saucers. Damon decided that this must be a bad dream and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, everyone was still there. Next to Brian and Elena, a middle age couple stood by two teenagers, all four of them clearly recognisable as a few of the slaves that had helped with the witch lodge and had their memories of it erased weeks ago.

"Whoa, wait a minute. How and why did they find their way back here?" Damon was not even ready to process what Elena was saying, and wanted to make sure that they wouldn't be getting any more unexpected visitors.

"I brought them here... Arthur's mah friend," Brian answered. "They been hear'n that their mastah goin' sell some slaves deep south at auction to cut losses. They afraid the family goin' be seperated before the war's done. They wanna run north togetha now."

"And I told them that we will take them with us," Elena added matter of factly, looking at Damon with confidence that affirmed she would not take no for an answer, her hands on her hips.

"Of course you did," Damon scratched at his head, thinking that it was going to be a miracle for any of them to survive. "I'm gonna need more bourbon."

* * *

As Damon fell back from the room to pour himself a glass of the bourbon he'd also swiped from Giuseppe, Lexi followed him. "Is she out of her mind? We are in the middle of Virginia surrounded by thousands of confederate soldiers, and we are going to head north with a wagon full of escaped slaves?"

Damon raised his eyebrow at Lexi as he took a sip of his whiskey. "It's not my idea of a good time either, but noone's forcing you to come with us. I've learned that telling Elena 'no' when she's got her heart set on something just leads to her doing something more desperately foolish."

Lexi shook her head. "You really do love her, don't you? I have only known them a day and I, too, have become quite fond of her and your brother. They seem like the sort of people that will make wonderful life long friends. Elena may be the most honest, generous girl that I have ever met, and Stefan is rather sweet and adorable. I cannot imagine leaving them alone with you on such a perilous journey, so I have decided to travel along and help after all."

"Perfect. My world of misery is now complete," Damon groaned melodramatically.

"Why do you pretend to be so inhospitable, when it is obvious how much you care for those close to you? Is there a reason that you try so hard to antagonise and push away those who would be your friend?" Lexi questioned, still trying to figure out his conflicting nature.

"Who's pretending?" Damon waved in frustration towards the other room where Elena and Stefan were still talking with Brian, Arthur and his family. " _This_ is why I don't make friends. The more people you have to worry about, the more _weaknesses_ you have; the more your enemies can make you suffer. Elena was wrong when she told you that you can trust me, because if anything goes wrong, I'm _not_ going to be a hero. If it comes down to me or anyone else, I'm going to pick me. The _only_ exceptions are Stefan and Elena. Everything I do will always be to protect _them_ , and everyone else is acceptable collateral damage if it keeps Elena and Stefan safe. I _can't_ be anyone else's friend."

As he stood and walked away dismissively, he called out, "I'm going to go round up everything we need for this traveling circus jamboree we've got going, the rest of you stay inside 'til I get back."


End file.
